> My post had nothing to do with MPG, I get close to 30 combined and over 30> highway with a '97 Lumina and its EPA MPG ratings are roughly half those of> the NHW20. . . .

We had a '91 Camry that delivered a solid 32 MPG but after it was lost
in accident, the replacement 2003 Prius has delivered 52 MPG from 2005-
current.

One unexplored possibility is driving the car in "B" instead of "D"
which also drives the mileage down, substantially.

It might be interesting to instrument rental Prius and record the
driving profile including GPS data. Then we might be able to figure
out the 5%.

Bob Wilson

Posted by bwilson4web on September 22, 2011, 8:46 pm

. . .

> Just go down to your local Toyota dealer and see if you can get a> trade-in on your current 1.5L, NHW20 or NHW11 Prius. The production> levels are coming back and new, 1.8L Prius are starting to arrive.> Meanwhile, the shortage has still inflated the price of your older> Prius. Instead of trade-in, you might try Ebay/Craigslist to see if> you can get a better deal than trade-in (often the case.)

The new, super-sized Prius is coming out next month and it very likely
that dealers may want to move their inventory. There is some evidence
of that on Ebay but there are other Prius sources, salvage rebuilders:

http://www.autobeyours.com/ - if they don't have an affordable 2010,
they can sell a 2004-09 with a plug-in modification or install it in
an NHW20. Toyota's Plug-In is announced for 2012 but initially, only
in the CARB states.

On the East Coast, TaylorAutomotive and on the west coast, Lucious
Garage and ArtsAutomotive. There are a boat-load of options just a
click and call away.

Now a lot of folks have gone with radiator blocks and engine block
heaters. I use both and they are effective. But since I have an 2003,
NHW11, I also use a careful, warm-up protocol for the first mile or
two which is almost as effective as a block heater.

All of these are the "low hanging fruit" to solve a 35 MPG problem.
Still, you know, horse, water, drink . . .